Chelsea initially confirmed that defender Wesley Fofana will miss the club’s pre-season tour of the United States due to a knee injury.

The club has now released a statement to confirm that he’d miss longer than just the pre-season.

Fofana has undergone an ACL surgery, and it could take nine months for him to return to action.

The club statement read: “Defender Wesley Fofana has undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.

“The 22-year-old did not travel to America for the club’s pre-season tour due to specialist medical assessments, which unfortunately confirmed that an operation would be required.

“Wesley will now begin his recovery and work with the club’s medical department at Cobham during his rehabilitation phase.”

Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed that it’s indeed a sad development.

“It’s really sad, really bad news. We feel all so sad. All we can do is help him,” Pochettino said at his pre-match press conference ahead of the pre-season game with Wrexham.

“We know it’s a tough injury but we hope he can be as soon as possible with the team.

“We need to keep going. The competition is there, in one month we start, it doesn’t wait for anyone and we need to be ready to compete.”